Guardian article claims that the Golan Heights were ‘Palestinian’

Guardian article by Sian Cain (Michael Chabon witnesses ‘grievous injustice’ in occupied territories, May 6th) included the following paragraph, with background on the “Palestinian territories” Israel “entered” during the 1967 war.

Chabon and his wife, writer Ayelet Waldman, are contributing to and editing the as-yet-unnamed book of essays that will be published to mark the 50th anniversary of 1967’s six-day war, when Israel first entered the Palestinian territories: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, parts of the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip.

Of course, the Golan Heights were seized from Syria during the Six-Day War, and were never ‘Palestinian’ – even in the broadest sense of the term.

The passage conflates the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza (which were controlled by Jordan and Egypt respectively before the war, and now claimed by some Palestinians as part of their future state) with the Golan Heights, which were controlled by Syria since 1944.  Whilst referring to the West Bank and east Jerusalem as “Palestinian territories” – rather than the ‘disputed territories’ claimed by Palestinians – is itself misleading, saying the same about the Golan Heights is simply inaccurate.

We’ve tweeted the the journalist and emailed Guardian editors asking for a correction. 

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